After arriving in South Dakota today around noon, we headed out to Badlands National Park. We spent some time enjoying one of the scenic overlooks and two short trails. Beautiful scenery in the “baddest” of the badlands!
Continue reading “Badlands National Park”Ellanor C. Lawrence Park
We visited Ellanor C. Lawrence Park in Virginia today between lunch and dinner, mostly to walk around a bit to be able to eat more! This small park is between Centreville and Chantilly, a few miles south of Dulles, and owned by Fairfax County. It is a nice place for a walk with trails through a forested area nestled between a highway and smaller road. We planned on doing a loop but it turned into an out and back when we realized the western half of the trail was through partially swampy unmowed grass! We were rewarded for our efforts though as we spotted a species of bird that we’ve never seen before, the Eastern Towhee!
Continue reading “Ellanor C. Lawrence Park”Local Cherry Blossoms & Finches
It has been nearly a week since the local cherry blossoms have started to bloom. The first few trees still look wonderful with very few petals that have fallen to the ground. The weather has been quite a bit cooler since the first day and trees that started a bit later seem to have quite a mix of flowers and buds. Today, we were treated to a wonderful sight – a few male House Finches were busy eating the flowers!
Continue reading “Local Cherry Blossoms & Finches”Cedar Breaks & Zion
We drove a loop today though a small bit of southwestern Utah, visiting Cedar Breaks National Monument to the north before driving southwards to visit various less traveled areas of Zion National Park. The weather was good and we saw some spectacular scenery!
Continue reading “Cedar Breaks & Zion”Route 89 Loop
We headed out for a road trip through a bit of southern Utah and northern Arizona along Route 89 and 89A. Route 89 and its alternate routing meet in Utah in the town of Kanab and in Arizona near the town of Page. There are quite a few interesting sights to see along the way, plenty more than can be visited in a day! Though, having a knee injury means many of the sights were unfortunately off the table for this trip.
Continue reading “Route 89 Loop”